OTTAWA - Solicitor General Lawrence MacAulay and Minister of National Revenue Martin Cauchon said last week that proposed legislation introduced in the House of Commons will close one path of terrorist fund-raising and help preserve the integrity of Canada's charities registration system by preventing groups with terrorist affiliations from obtaining registered charity status.

Under the existing registered charities system, the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency [CCRA] does not use information that is classified for functional security reasons to deny or revoke charitable states for organizations. The Charities Registration [Security Information] Act will facilitate the use of classified information in determining whether an organization is eligible for registration as a charity by protecting that information during judicial review and ensuring due process and fairness.

"This legislation is an important new tool in our fight against terrorism," Mr. MacAulay said. "The new Act provides a fair and open process to prevent abuse to Canada's charities registration system by organizations with terrorist affiliations. Terrorism is a global problem, and this legislation is part of the solution."

"Canadians are a caring people, and Canada's tax system supports this generosity," Mr. Cauchon said. "By allowing us to prevent groups with terrorist affiliations from obtaining charitable registration, this legislation will ensure that the generosity of Canadians is not abused."

This initiative is in keeping with the Speech from the Throne commitment to provide enhanced tools to deal with terrorism and is linked directly to Canada's International commitments within the G-8 process and other international forums to combat terrorism, he said.